March 16, 2004

For the first time, researchers have induced differentiating cells to revert to being stem cells. The achievement with the fruit fly Drosophila suggests that de-differentiation should be explored as yet another route to generating stem cells for therapeutic purposes.

The researchers reported their findings in the March 14, 2004, advanced online edition of the journal Nature.

March 15, 2004

Researchers are hard at work building biological time machines that reverse aging in some cells.

Some are trying to reset biological clocks by mimicking “magic factors” in human eggs — the only cells in a woman’s body not programmed to die. Others are identifying molecules that enable salamanders to re-grow limbs. Chemists in San Diego have created a chemical compound they call “reversine,” which resets muscle cells in mice… read more

March 15, 2004

A robot race across the Mojave Desert turned into a parade of frustration Saturday, as 15 driverless vehicles spun their wheels, flipped over and encountered rocks and ruts that befuddled sensors and baffled programming.

March 12, 2004

A new method for producing uniform, self-assembled liposomes (a type of artifcial cell) has been developed by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). It may lead to an improved method for encapsulating drug therapies.

Current bulk methods for producing liposomes produce particles in a wide range of sizes, which must be sorted and filtered before being used for drug delivery, since dosage depends critically on… read more

March 12, 2004

USC/NASA-Ames have produced a nanowire-based memory cell with three different controllable bit states, for a total of 8 distinct levels, allowing for cramming more data into a fixed lateral region on a data storage device.

March 12, 2004

A scandal at the cadaver laboratory at the University of California, Los Angeles, has thrown back a heavy curtain that has kept trade in body parts largely hidden from public view.

The university suspended its Willed Body Program this week, and university police arrested the program’s director and a man the university accuses of trafficking in as many as 800 cadavers in a six-year body-parts-for-profit scheme.

March 12, 2004

A thread of carbon nanotubes more than 100 meters long has been pulled from a furnace. The previous record holder was a mere 30 centimeters long.

By bundling the nanotubes together into much longer fibers, scientists hope to harness their properties on a larger scale. For example, embedding long carbon nanotube threads in plastic would allow tougher composites for airplane hulls.